Pirates of the Caribbean Review

The most pirate fun you can have without losing a foot, hand or eye.

Bethesda's Pirates of the Caribbean is a marvelous example of what can be done when a developer just happens to have a pirate-themed RPG and the wonderful world of Disney just happens to have a pirate-themed film --based on a pirate-themed amusement park attraction-- and they're both scheduled to hit the market at the same time. The good news is that developer Akella's vision of pirate life (originally known as Sea Dogs II matches up very well with Disney's vision of piracy. The bad news is Johnny Depp is a no-show in the Xbox game, so we'll all still have to hold out hope that Donnie Brasco 2 will be made into a game for the home console.

Last year Bethesda published The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. The fantasy-based RPG was well received despite several technical issues because it offered the depth and robust story that role-playing fans hadn't seen on Xbox to that point. Now in 2003, PotC's depth is maybe a notch or two below what was seen in Morrowind, it suffers from new combat and camera problems stemming from the third person perspective and nearly makes up for all of its shortcomings with outstanding sailing and ship-to-ship combat elements. Even if it doesn't tie into the film of the same name --and it doesn't-- Pirates of the Caribbean is a good step towards broadening the pirate-RPG category.

Gameplay

You're Captain Nathaniel Hawk and you begin your adventure on land and sea in an archipelago full of Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, French and British colonists, not to mention bloodthirsty pirates. Your job is to interact with people to pick up missions and to pick up information, new weapons, crew members, money and ships for the purpose of completing those missions. Most towns have a port, a tavern, a general store and a shipyard that you can travel to in an instant using the quick travel feature on the Y button. Other towns and parts of an island colony may have other instant destinations like the governor's office or the harbormaster's quarters.

The initial stage of the game has you landing in the British colony of Oxbay where you learn basic commerce strategies, how to communicate with people and maybe even a little combat here and there. The on-land segments of PotC are in third person perspective and this is the area where the game runs into most of its problems.

The combat/control scheme is similar to Resident Evil (and nearly as slow) in that you have to press X to draw your character's sword and then attack with A, dodge with B and block with the left trigger. Granted this is an RPG where the focus is on developing your character not on the thrill of fighting action, but hand-to-hand combat is the main way of gaining experience points and therefore happens quite often. You don't have to go around chopping everybody's head off and earning a bad reputation, but an occasional scrap or two in between legitimate fights against pirates, soldiers or skeleton warriors is the only way to stay awake while playing Pirates of the Caribbean on land. With the awful collision detection between characters and buildings you can often end up fighting enemies around corners and through doorways without seeing them. You can fire your character's default pistol while his sword is drawn but the aiming is automatic and you'll have a split second to switch between highlighted targets as Nathaniel is pulling the trigger. He can earn more powerful and more efficient pistols but overall the 3rd person combat isn't strong enough to be such a critical part of the game.

Managing members of your party is limited to hooking them up equipment like swords and guns since they operate and fight on their own. They're only as good as their stats and attributes.

Hand in hand with the combat is the third person camera system that behaves inconsistently and can leave you in some extremely difficult situations. The game loads new environments as you enter and leave buildings and large areas and the camera often gets jammed up between structures and Nathaniel as it tries to stay locked unto the back of his head. At times like this the free camera control on the right analog stick can be inoperative and for split second or two the camera stays locked in place with Nathaniel walking around and operating just in front of it. During hectic combat situations and on any stairways, the camera will often betray you especially if you've got your full complement of three party members with you.

This is the pretty much the limit of what goes wrong in PotC. The character development system is very well done and helps bring the experience home. There are 10 attributes from Leadership all the way to Luck that will affect both your specific character and your entire ship when you hit the high seas. When hiring officers for your ship --this games equivalent of gaining new party members-- its wise to get guys who have skills that complement your own. You should build up your own Leadership, Melee and Commerce skills, but then be careful when you hire a First Mate, because he'll likely have high ratings in the same areas since First Mates want to eventually become captains. It may be better to hire a Cannoneer or Boatswain early on since their sailing skills like Repair and Defense will tighten up your lack of experience in those areas. However, down the road when you want to have more than one ship in your fleet, you'll want a skilled First Mate to captain your second ship so you don't have to worry about it. PotC does a great job with its personnel/party system in this way. You can only bring three officers with you at a time but you can have even more "passengers" waiting on your ship that can be called into to duty in an instant. You'll have to learn to balance having strong fighters at your side to help you win brawls with protecting valuable officers whom you'll need to be an effective captain on the sea. Your officers earn experience points as you earn them and you'll be in full control of their development as the game continues.